These shows represented an era for many. They provided understanding on issues that younger kids were dealing with while providing good entertainment. These shows tackled issues such as fear, disability, feminism, foreign encounters, and mental disabilities. Theresa Romano discusses the change from these classics to today’s cartoons on the The Mary Sue . She discusses the transition Cartoon Network has gone through from having quality shows to their current attempts to only satisfy the few with quick attention grabbers. She also comments on how fans have tried to bring back shows that have gotten axed from Cartoon Network. The network has a continued tendency to cancel shows with large fan bases who love their shows so much that they will do all they can to have it continued. Ironically the few shows that have succeeded in gaining a continuous long run on Cartoon Network such as, Adventure Time and Regular Show, are termed as having a nostalgic feel similar to the original shows on the network and it seems that that is the reason why they are so loved. Brett Hallahan wrote on The Sqlog about Nickelodeon’s cartoons’ demise. He believes the reason for their downfall was the introduction of Disney Channel which involved live-action filming with teenagers who lived though varying adventures. While there were good things to come out of Disney Channel and their teenager shows, they also seemed to lose the same values that had been displayed in their shows and the cartoons on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. All that we have left to day is barely hanging remains of great shows that were once aired, and one can only hope that these networks will redeem themselves and bring great shows filled with well thought out life lessons back to the forefront of television.

While looking for a page to edit on Wikipedia I decided to go to the Fandom Wikipedia, which needs some edits of its own, and on to one of the links from there. Since there was a link to the Doctor Who page under Whovians I decided to go into the Doctor Who Wikipedia page and see it it needed any edits. At the top of the page Wikipedia makes it clear that it does. So I went through and picked the first thing I wanted to change or assist with. It turns out that that is quite difficult when their manual of style is somewhat complicated when worked upon in-depth and yet easy on the surface. When I initially went to the page to see if anything needed changing or citation I figured that not much would need to be done, mainly because Who is so old and has so many fans. Unfortunately for the page there was a lot of work to be done. I began by adding sources where needed. Although it is some work to go through and add support to statements, it does not make sense that a writer would take information from a site and add it to the Wikipedia page but leave out where they got it from. Citing where it came from when you’re the original writer should not be so difficult. If someone has difficulty citing it correctly, like I did during my first try, then look it up or don’t add anything at all. The first citation I tried and seem to have succeeded at adding was for the statement that the “Celestial Toyroom… is the longest running fanzine for Doctor Who.” To support that I found a site that may not be distinctly reliable but, backs up the statement. The one thing the page was not lacking in references was redirects to the Wikipedia pages of famous people and celebrities that are fans of Doctor Who. When viewing the section of “Celebrity Fans,” all that can be seen is a multitude of blue colored names. Most likely referred because adding a link to another Wikipedia page is the easiest thing when it comes to citation in Wikipedia’s manual of style. One main problem is that not everything within the page can be fixed. In the music of Doctor Who section there is a statement that artist Mitch Benn’s album Radio Face has a Doctor Who song titled . The writer added a Wikipedia page redirect to the album but, it does not exist. Ironically, all of Mitch Benn’s albums except Radio Face have their own Wikipedia pages. Also, some statements are worded in such a way that even when searched for on Google, their information cannot be found. There is a comment that a fanzine artist and his fan club faded away. I have no idea where it came from and it sounds like an opinion. Wikipedia refers to it as original research which is something that is not allowed on Wikipedia pages.

Since we are all a part of Fandom, look up one of your favorites’ pages and see if its a fixer upper. If you can, and are willing to, go through the journey of trying to add citations.

It’s no secret that the fans of the Marvel Universe are large and widespread. There a lots of fandoms dedicated to comic books and their movie adaptations. Although none are as diverse as Marvel’s fandom. Since the release of Iron Man 3, a continuation of laid out storylines of Iron Man and the Avengers, the fandom has grown and now includes even more who can relate to his struggles. Rose F., details her connection to the character and how it has strengthened as his current issues with PTSD arose. She digs into his self image hindrances and identifies with overcoming such a disability.

Some fans like to share their views and connections to the film through other methods, such as the Youtube channel How It Should Have Ended. They typically make alternate endings to large blockbusters and the video for Iron Man 3 caught the attention of blogger Nat B of tfgeekgirl.

Other fans have created fanfiction to get the endings or happenings that they were hoping to see but did not make it into the movie. There was controversy regarding Marvel’s portrayal of the badass villain The Mandarin, those who disagreed with the executive decision to change his character altered their own universes where all was well and followed how things went in the comics. Fans who loved the film also created fan art. Unam-et-solum recreated the movie poster.

Overall the fandom was satisfied with Iron Man 3. Mark Bousquet gave a spoiler filled review that is quite balanced on how well Iron Man 3 did when compared to expectations, hype, and a need to be better than the previous movies in the series as well as The Avengers. Another reviewer was Imrahn Hamid. He shares others’ opinions regarding The Mandarin, saying he was “underwhelming.” There are some people who are surprised by others feeling disappointed with Iron Man 3. As seen below, Allen Tan certainly is.

Wait, there are people out there who hate Iron Man 3?
Would like to see the Venn diagram with people who hate Christmas.

The Mandarin appears as a centering point in whether fans liked Iron Man 3 or not. Iron Man 3 fans who were either happily surprised or let down by The Mandarin. Some are now hesitant about future Marvel Movies, namely the upcoming Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. I think it’s boring when you already know the ending, so here’s to hoping there’s more plot twists in the future as Marvel enters Phase 2.

There has been a lot of heroes in the media lately from movies and television shows that are more flawed than those typically seen. Miriam Joy speaks on the heroes that have lots of negative attributes or issues and their accompanying villains that the fans love, sympathize with, and somehow become obsessed with. While the post is quite old, I though it was relevant considering trending shows and movies have these type of characters featured. Marvel is releasing and has recently release quite a few new movies that feature deeply flawed heroes. Mainly Iron Man 3 that featured Tony Stark with a post traumatic stress disorder following the events of The Avengers. Thor without any issues at all personally in the second movie, and yet Loki has all the issues mentioned in Joy’s post as well as feeling unloved by his mother and being so emotionally distraught and contained in a cell until he is taken out when needed by Thor. Vulture compiles all the love that Loki has seemed to get from critics. In the latest Star Trek movie the villain Kahn drew plenty of sympathy while Captain Kirk made a multitude of mistakes. Kahn was aggressive, dangerous, and yet his people were in danger. He killed a man, but he was made for killing the first place.

Television’s heroes have new things to deal with and yet they also have some loved and much wanted villains. Teen Wolf’s new villain is Stiles, who was previously the sidekick, although villain may be to strong of a term. Stiles would most likely be considered the big bad of this season 3b since he’s being possessed by the actual villain, the Nogitsune. The fans love him though, if the livetweeting and liveblogging that goes on when dark!Stiles appears is anything to go by. The general consensus is that he is hot and the fans want more and less all at once. On Supernatural the overall villain has always been Crowley, and even though he’s the king of hell the fans still love him. He has qualities that make him a quality character, his sarcasm, resourcefulness, and his new found antithesis, Abbadon who is much worse than him. The heroes of Supernatural are Sam and Dean, even though as they’ve stated, they aren’t heroes. Sam has especially been riling up fans with his latest opinions and actions. Mainly how he has been in regards to Dean, but he’s still doing the job with his brother. Hunting things, saving people, the family business. The most well known villain of the show Sherlock is Moriarty. He’s sadistic, snarky, murderous, and somehow quite lovable. He makes the viewer feel sad for him even while he’s telling Sherlock to fall off a roof. At the end of the latest season of Sherlock Moriarty appeared on the screen with the line “Did you miss me?,” that was answered with a resounding “YES!”

Eleanor Musgrove wrote on her blog, Fandom Wanderers, “How To Take A Break From Fandom(s)” where she discussed how to step away when it gets to be too much. I think it is a great idea to take a break every once in a while. Brief rest periods can be good for preventing a fan from being overwhelmed. It also helps to sometimes focus all your attention on the real world around you. Immersion into fiction is meant to be a temporary reprieve.

The recommendations mentioned in her post are great guidelines when it comes to taking a break. There are instances, though, when a break is not enough. Fandom can be too much for some people, and they feel the need to leave altogether. Charlotte Kinzie felt the need to leave the Supernatural fandom. Kinzie describes the negative side of fandom while continuing to maintain the fact that she was content with having been apart of it. She states that “the good did seem to outweigh the bad most of the time.” Overexposure to the full range of a fandom for too long can lead to the feeling of needing to leave. That is why breaks are necessary if a fan wants to continue to be apart of a fandom without it getting to be too much for them. While on break, though, it does need to be a complete distancing from the entire online environment and all the material that comes with it as Musgrove mentions.

The need to take a break can come from a variety of issues. Something as easy to correct as schoolwork, or something more complicated like a disagreement with the things happening in a show. If it is something simple like putting in more time doing work, the break can happen and then the fan immerse their self slowly back into the fandom. If it is more complicated and the fan wants things to change that they themselves cannot, then a break can only do so much. That is not to say that a show should be given up on, Fandom for Equality discussed why fans should stay and how to do so. They tackle some of the minor flaws within a show that can usually be overlooked if everything else on the show is well done. Oftentimes there will be an event, character, or story line that a fan has a qualm with will be resolved or fade away, and the fan can continue as they were now that their issue is out of the way. The fan can take a break, let the story line they disagree with play out, and then come back. Musgrove says “missing a few episodes will not be the end of the world.”

In the end, it all comes down to how the fan is feeling and what they think is in their best interests.